Senegalia persiciflora

Tilcayo Cats original · Plants · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Senegalia persiciflora is a tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to eastern and central Africa. Kew records it from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan–South Sudan region. The older name Acacia persiciflora remains in botanical literature.

Appearance

The tree is commonly about four and a half to nine metres tall, sometimes reaching fifteen metres. Its yellow-brown bark peels in lengthwise strips. Small hooked prickles occur in pairs just below the points where leaves join the branches.

The leaves are divided twice. Four to eight pairs of side branches each carry numerous pairs of small, narrow leaflets. Flowers appear in short spikes, about one and a half to three centimetres long, before the leaves develop. Their outer floral parts are red or purple. The long, thread-like parts of the stamens are white.

Brown pods, usually straight or slightly curved, grow about six to fifteen centimetres long and split open to release the seeds. The seeds are roughly circular and flattened, about seven to eight millimetres across.

Habitat

The East African flora records the species in woodland and wooded grassland, growing either singly or in groups, at about 1,220–2,130 metres elevation.

Names and cultivation records

The name Acacia persiciflora was published in 1907. Its present combination in Senegalia dates from 2013; Acacia eggelingii is another name now treated as a synonym.

A 2021 review records historical cultivation in Egyptian botanical gardens, citing a specimen collected at the Barrage Medicinal Garden in 1968. This documents cultivation beyond the native range, rather than evidence of a wild Egyptian population.